Unipolar Politics: Realism and State Strategies after the Cold War

by Ethan Kapstein (Editor), Michael Mastanduno (Editor)

Overview

Unipolar Politics brings together prominent scholars in international relations to analyze the decisions that major powers have made since the Cold War to adapt to a rapidly changing economic and security environment.

The book points to powerful evidence that nations around the world are "bandwagoning" with the United States in most respects, while still trying to maintain some independence of action in the event that America becomes isolationist, antagonistic, or simply uninterested in a particular regional crisis. Meanwhile the United States is being pulled in different directions by its own economic and security requirements, leading to policy contradictions that must be resolved if the "unipolar" moment is to endure.

The authors acknowledge that, while great power wars are now unlikely, positional conflicts over resources and markets still remain, and may even be strengthening.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231113083
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	03/11/1999
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	0.00(w) x 0.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ethan Kapstein is Stassen Professor of International Peace at the Humphrey Institute and Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota. His most recent book is Governing the Global Economy. Michael Mastanduno, Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, and is the author ofEconomic Containment.

Table of Contents

1. Realism and International Relations After the Cold War, by Michael Mastanduno and Ethan B. Kapstein
2. Realism and the Present Great Power System: Growth and Positional Conflict Over Scarce Resources, by Randall L. Schweller
3. The Political Economy of Realism, by Jonathan Kirshner
4. Realism Structural Liberalism, and the Western Order, by Daniel Deudney and G. John Ikenberr
5. Preserving the Unipolar Moment: Realist Theories and U.S. Grand Strategy After the Cold War, by Michael Mastanduno
6. Mercantile Realism and Japanese Foreign Policy, by Eric Heginbotham and Richard J. Samuels
7. Realism and Russian Strategy after the Collapse of the USSR, by Neil MacFarlane
8. Realism(s) and Chinese Security Policy in the Post-Cold War Period, by Alastair Iain Johnston
9. Realism and Regionalism: American Power and German and Japanese Institutional Strategies Durgaing and After the Cold War, by Joseph M. Grieco
10. Realism and Reconciliation: France, Germany, and the European Union, by Michael Loriaux
11. Neorealism Nuclear Proliferation, and East-Central European Strategies, by Mark Kramer
12. Does Unipolarity Have A Future?, by Ethan B. Kapstein

What People are Saying About This

Joseph S. Nye Jr.

The Cold War has been over for nearly a decade, but we are still struggling to understand its succeeding era. The essays in Unipolar Politics make an important contribution to that quest.

— Joseph S. Nye Jr., Harvard University

John J. Mearshimer

The authors in this book offer abundant insights into the nature of contemporary international politics, and help us understand that the struggle for power between states did not stop when the Cold War ended.

— John J. Mearshimer, University of Chicago

Editorial Reviews

The authors in this book offer abundant insights into the nature of contemporary international politics, and help us understand that the struggle for power between states did not stop when the Cold War ended.

John J. Mearshimer

The Cold War has been over for nearly a decade, but we are still struggling to understand its succeeding era. The essays in Unipolar Politics make an important contribution to that quest.

Joseph S. Nye Jr.

Essential reading for those seeking to understand the current strategic landscape and its future.

Foreign Affairs

Contains 12 essays, written primarily by American political scientists, which aim to determine whether and to what degree the dominant research program in international relations<-->realism<-->can help us to understand both changes in the systemic environment and in the grand strategies of nation-states. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

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